Florida’s Caleb Banks has been one of the best defensive tackles in the country over the past two weeks, and he’s got the stats to prove it.
Florida defensive lineman [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag] has put on a show the past two weeks, and his seven quarterback pressures against Ole Miss on Saturday was the most among defensive tackles in college football during Week 13, according to Pro Football Focus.
Banks, a Louisville transfer, finished the week with 2.5 sacks, one quarterback hit and four more hurries. He also posted a career-high four tackles in the upset victory. Banks led all Power Four defenders in quarterback pressures this week, and only two edge rushers finished with more (8) throughout the FBS.
“It was just confidence,” Banks said to Noah White of FloridaGators.com. “We knew we were a great defensive line. We just needed to believe in ourselves.”
It’s the second notable performance from Banks in as many weeks. He had eight pressures — one sack, two quarterback hits and five hurries — against LSU a week ago, which ranks second among all FBS defensive tackles. Only Washington lineman Sebastian Valdez finished with more (9) and the other three players ahead of him are edge rushers.
“Last year, played against LSU, and on the third play of the game Emery Jones kind of got me a little block, like blindsided me a little bit,” he said after the LSU game. “He got me, he got me, and Will Campbell, he pancaked me twice last year. It was a little personal, you know, with those two tackles, and knowing that they’re going first round, so it’s like I can prove myself and show that I can be where they’re at too, like I can play at the same level as them, and I’m better than them.”
Banks’ recent breakout has been a timely revelation for the Gators’ defensive front. Without him, the two upsets might not happen. Banks has played 407 snaps this season for Florida, but a good chunk of them (118) have come over the past two weeks.
He’s been limited to 28-37 snaps for most of the year, but Florida had him on the field for 60 of 79 defensive snaps this week. Pro Football Focus gives Banks a season grade of 75.7 overall on defense — good for 13th in the SEC (min. 100 snaps) — and a 75.4 as a pass rusher (6th in SEC, 26th in FBS).
The big question for Florida following Banks’ breakout is whether or not he will turn pro following the 2024 season. Draft eligible as a junior, Banks has to decide whether he wants to be a mid-to-late round pick in the spring or play another year in Gainesville as the team’s question No. 1 in the defensive trenches.
Florida has Cam’Ron Jackson at the same position as Banks this year, but he’s out of eligibility as a fifth-year senior. The Gators will also see Desmond Watson and Penn transfer Joey Slackman depart the position room this offseason, leaving less experienced linemen such as sophomore Kelby Collins and JUCO transfer Tarvorise Brown on the depth chart to learn behind Banks.
It seems like a no-brainer for Banks to return to Florida, but a strong draft evaluation could persuade him to enter his name into the draft.
Next up for Florida
The Gators wrap up the 2024 regular season schedule in Tallahassee for their annual rivalry game against the Florida State Seminoles. The game will take place inside Doak Campbell Stadium and will kick off at either 7 or 7:30 p.m. ET; broadcast details have yet to be determined.
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All aboard the Lane Train… right out of Gainesville. This is Billy Napier’s town, and his Gators delivered a massive upset against Ole Miss Saturday to prove it.
For a second consecutive week, the Florida Gators have upset a ranked opponent in The Swamp. The Orange and Blue took down the No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels, 24-17, to improve their record to 6-5 and secure bowl eligibility.
[autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag] didn’t need to be the hero, but he still made some incredible throws, including two touchdown passes. The winning score came with senior running back [autotag]Montrell Johnson Jr[/autotag]. under center, though. Johnson lined up in the wildcat formation, faked a handoff and ran nine yards to his right into the endzone.
The remaining 7 minutes and 40 seconds of the contest was thrilling and proved that a depleted Gators secondary was still enough to stop one of the top quarterbacks in the country. Ole Miss signal-caller Jaxson Dart threw two interceptions — both secured by safety Bryce Thornton — to squash the Rebels’ chances to make the College Football Playoff.
The victory is, without a doubt, the best win of the [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] era and perhaps the best win since Kyle Trask was leading the glory year under Dan Mullen.
Florida is back!
The Billy Napier era has been filled with disappointment and uneasiness, but no longer is the future dim for the Florida Gators. The emergence of [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag] and the miraculous improvement of the defensive, at various levels, over the course of the season provides a path for Napier to not only stay on board for another season but perhaps thrive in Gainesville.
Lagway is a Heisman candidate moving forward, and he hasn’t even played with a fully healthy Eugene Wilson III. Replacing veteran receivers like [autotag]Elijhah Badger[/autotag] and [autotag]Chimere Dike[/autotag] won’t be easy, but there’s going to be a lot of interest from the big names in the transfer portal.
On defense, Gerald Chatman has transformed the line. [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag] looks like a future high-round pick, [autotag]Tyreak Sapp[/autotag] is dominating on the edge and [autotag]Cam Jackson[/autotag] is the anchor up front that Florida has needed all year. The pressure created, especially once Ole Miss center Reece McIntyre went down, forced Dart to make mistakes and an underestimated Gators secondary came up big in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
It’s hard not to be excited about what this team can do moving forward, and the dark cloud that’s hung over The Swamp for the past three years seems to be finally fading.
Great day for the RBs
Coming into this matchup, Ole Miss had the second-best run defense in the country. The Rebels allowed just 79.9 rushing yards per game and held opposing running backs to just 2.23 yards per carry.
Napier and his staff didn’t care about any of those numbers, though. The game plan was to run the ball early and often, and it worked like a charm. Florida’s three-headed monster in the backfield totaled a combined 174 yards on 39 carries, averaging 4.46 yards per carry — double the season average allowed by Ole Miss.
Johnson was the primary back in this one, rushing for 107 yards and the wildcat touchdown on 18 attempts, but Baugh flashed his talents with 46 yards on 13 rushes. [autotag]Ja’Kobi Jackson[/autotag], Florida’s JUCO gem, added 21 yards on eight carries.
Baugh and Jackson will be back next year to lead Florida’s running backs room, and Johnson will likely turn to pro now that he’s out of eligibility.
It’s been an injury-riddled year for Johnson, who had minor knee surgery during the preseason and missed a few games as the quarterback transition from Graham Mertz to Lagway took place, but he came back at the perfect time. Florida doesn’t win this game without him.
‘Next man up’ mentality prevails
Florida has dealt with a number of injuries this season and came into this game down its top three cornerbacks, a starting linebacker and safety. But that doesn’t matter when the entire team is repeating the line “next man up” at every opportunity in front of the media.
Banks is the breakout star over the last two weeks. He looks like an NFL-ready defensive lineman at times and racked up 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss against Ole Miss. Sapp is the heart and soul of the front seven, and [autotag]Shemar James[/autotag] is another leader at the second level of the defense.
Thornton’s two interceptions were the most timely turnovers of the year for Florida, and the secondary has been held together by Trikweze Bridges’ position versatility as he moves from safety to cornerback.
[autotag]Sharif Denson[/autotag] deserves praise for delivering hit after hit, many of which came against runners in the open field, and [autotag]Jordan Castell[/autotag] is finally playing like he did during his freshman year — talk about a big hit to start the game.
This defense could have folded weeks, if not months, ago, but they didn’t. Austin Armstrong, Napier and Ron Roberts all deserve praise for keeping these guys focused through a tremendous amount of adversity throughout the season.
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Offense, defense and special teams helped the Gators come up with a much-needed victory at home against the LSU Tigers.
Florida football (5-5, 3-4 SEC) defeated the No. 21 LSU Tigers (6 – 4, 3-3 SEC) by a score of 27-16.
Quarterback DJ Lagway started for the Gators after missing last week’s game due to a left hamstring injury and threw for 226 yards and a touchdown in his return. Freshman running back Jadan Baugh exploded for a 55-yard touchdown run with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to ultimately seal the game.
With help from the defense to seal the game, despite their shakiness on third down stops, the Gators came up with a huge win to keep their bowl-eligibility hopes alive. Florida just needs a win against either Ole Miss next week or the Florida State Seminoles to make a bowl game this season.
Here are five key factors from today’s game.
Defense starts with a bang
Florida’s defense started out the game strong. On LSU’s opening drive, the Tigers moved the ball toward midfield and were faced with a 4th-and-1 situation.
LSU decided to go for it and ran a play toward the outside that was immediately shut down by Dijon Johnson which made the Swamp deafening.
Unfortunately for the Gators’ offense, they were forced to punt because they committed two consecutive penalties to start out their drive. So the great field position went to waste.
Gators bite first
Florida started their second offensive drive on their own 20-yard line and Lagway got away with an almost sure interception on his first attempt. The ball hit the LSU defender right in the hands but he couldn’t make the catch.
A couple of plays later, Lagway completed a 34-yard pass to receiver Chimere Dike that put the Gators at midfield. Then, running back Ja’Kobi Jackson had a big run for 20 yards that placed Florida right outside the red zone.
To cap off the drive, Lagway threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to receiver Elijhah Badger who was in one-on-one coverage that gave the Gators an early 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Defensive woes on third downs
Florida had a tough time defending the Tigers on their third down attempts.
Over the course of the game, LSU was 13-for-24 on third downs and converted four of them on their fourth possession alone which resulted in a 14-play, 84-yard drive that ended in a game-tying touchdown in the second quarter.
The third-down defensive struggles allowed the Tigers to construct lengthy drives which also allowed them to dominate the time of possession. LSU had the ball for 41:43 compared to Florida’s time of possession of 18:17.
LSU was 8-for-12 on third downs in the first half and it wasn’t like the majority of them were short distances either. A lot of these conversions were on 3rd-and-long situations. But luckily toward the end of the game, Florida’s defense was able to dial in when it mattered most and slowed down those third-down conversions.
Plenty of sacks to go around
The Gators’ defense was all over Garrett Nussmeier throughout the game, especially in the second half.
Florida had a total of seven sacks and it wasn’t just from a couple of players. The sacks were spread out among multiple Gators defenders.
It was certainly refreshing to see the Gators pass rush being as effective as they were today and it’ll be interesting to see if they can carry it over next week against a high-powered Ole Miss offense.
Special Teams delivered for the Gators
Florida’s offense struggled to find ways to get in the end zone today, but thanks to their fantastic play from junior kicker Trey Smack who kicked 2-for-2 that included a career-long field goal of 55 yards.
And let’s not forget about senior punter Jeremy Crawshaw who had all four of his punts inside the 20-yard line. In a game where field position was critical, the Gators special teams unit played a big part in their victory today.
Up next for the Gators
The Gators play their final home game of the season against the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday, Nov. 23. Kickoff is set for noon ET and will be broadcast on ABC.
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Florida has a good amount of returning talent in its defensive line room heading into 2024 and will lean on returners Cam Jackson and Caleb Banks.
After taking a look at all of Florida’s players on offense, it’s time to check out the defense.
Florida runs a scheme, that often utilizes three defensive linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs. That makes the defensive line a bit tricky to classify because the “EDGE” rushers can play hybrid roles, lining up on the line and as an outside linebacker, depending on the package.
That means most of the “defensive linemen” listed on the roster are interior linemen. Their jobs are to clog holes and stuff the run, rather than going after the quarterback every play.
There are some new faces in the position room, but Cam Jackson and Desmond Watson are two large and familiar faces. Some new guys in town should see the field often, too, with Chris McClellan now with Missouri.
Let’s take a look at every defensive lineman on Florida’s roster. Check out Gators Wire’s other position previews for the 2024 season below.
[autotag]Cam Jackson[/autotag] is the incumbent starting nose tackle at Florida, and he might be the only player locked into his role before the season starts. Pro Football Focus graded Jackson the highest of any Florida defensive linemen a year ago, with an overall grade of 71.3.
A deeper look reveals that Jackson was much better against the run last season, though. His run-defense grade of 76.3 is significantly better than his pass-rush grade of 59.7, and there’s some work to be done on tackling (59.2).
As the team’s best run defender, Jackson will be the go-to at nose tackle this season. With a year of SEC ball under his belt, the hope is that he’ll increase his snap count from the 281 plays he was on the field for last year.
[autotag]Joey Slackman[/autotag] transferred to Florida from Penn during the offseason, and he’s expected to play a significant role for the Gators this year. Billy Napier gushed over Slackman during fall camp, noting the impact he has on the unit.
In fact, Slackman was a guy that the rest of the players wanted Florida to go and get. He’s a leader and veteran of the college game, which provides some stability for the younger guys still finding their footing.
“Look, I’m a Joey Slackman guy,” Napier said. “I think Joey brings maturity and an awareness (to the team). I think he’s extremely bright and he’s motivated, he’s driven, he’s a self-starter and he’s an alpha. I think he does a great job. He brings other things besides being a 6-3, 315-pound athlete to the table.”
From a numbers standpoint, Slackman was more productive than Jackson over the past three years, albeit in a weaker conference. If Slackman can come close to the 90.7 defensive grade he earned from PFF last year, Florida has itself a bonafide SEC starter.
Next up is redshirt junior [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag], who led the position room with 364 snaps a year ago. His 69.8 overall defensive grade was the second-highest for Florida behind Jackson, but Banks offers a different skill set than the other two starters mentioned above.
The 2023 Lousiville transfer is a strong tackler (72.3) and an even better pass rusher (74.2), which means defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong will find ways to get him on the field. The defensive line is a bit of a rotational unit anyway, so the starter tag isn’t everything here.
“(Banks) got significant experience last year. He played around I think it’s 300 plus plays, got banged up a little bit at times in the second half of the season. So, yeah, he’s on a mission. This guy’s got traits. He’s 6-5-and-three-quarters, 320 (pounds) and he’s learned a lot.”
Sometimes, all three of these linemen will be on the field. At other times, Florida could opt to run an edge-heavy set. It all depends on what the offense is showing, but this is the core of the position room.
Backup: No. 21 Desmond Watson (Sr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Defensive Stats:
Year
GP
SOLO
AST
TOT
TFL
SACKS
FF
FR
2021
5
2
5
7
0.5-1
0.0
0
0
2022
13
8
17
25
1.5-3
0.0
1
1
2023
12
3
8
11
1-8
1-8
0
0
Total
38
13
30
43
3-12
1-8
1
1
Fan-favorite [autotag]Desmond Watson[/autotag] is the true backup of the group here.
At nearly 450 pounds, Watson’s conditioning can be an issue at times, but he still overpowers most linemen in front of him when he’s on the field. He’s an asset on the goal line and other short-yardage situations, but he’ll be lucky to see more than 200 snaps this year.
Over 175 snaps in 2023, Watson earned a 64.8 defensive grade from PFF, which breaks down to 65.9 as a run defender and 58.8 as a pass rusher. It’s clear which role Watson thrives in most. Now the coaches have to utilize him accordingly.
Injured: No. 95 Jamari Lyons (R-So.)
Bob Self/Florida Times-Union
Defensive Stats:
Year
GP
SOLO
AST
TOT
TFL
SACKS
FF
FR
2022
3
0
2
2
0-0
0-0
0
0
2023
12
10
10
20
2.5-7
0-0
0
0
Total
15
10
12
22
2.5-7
0-0
0
0
[autotag]Jamari Lyons[/autotag] entered fall camp in line to be a major contributor on Florida’s defensive line, but a broken ankle suffered during the first scrimmage of the season is going to keep him sidelined for the rest of the year.
Lyons played nearly 200 snaps as a redshirt freshman in 2023, earning a 64.9 defensive grade from PFF. He was the unit’s best tackler (81.0) by far, and he was the second-highest graded run defender (71.2) on the roster.
Losing Lyons before the season starts is significant, and the rest of the team knows it. Now it’s about rallying behind their brother and filling a large hole left by the injury.
“We have a number of players who have been through injuries in the past, and I think it’ll be important for those guys to help Jamari because Jamari is one of our best. He really cares,” Napier said. “It was really inspirational, to some degree, because the entire team was on the field, which I’ve never seen in my entire coaching career.”
“A guy gets hurt and everybody knows it’s a pretty good injury, but we’ve got all 132 are on the spot there to support him as he rode off the field.”
There are two first-year players in Florida’s defensive line room, [autotag]Michai Boireau[/autotag] and [autotag]D’Antre Robinson[/autotag].
Robinson was the more highly-touted recruit coming out of high school, earning a fourth star from three of the four major services, but Napier has hinted at Boireau seeing the field first.
Both were mentioned as guys who are competing for time now that Lyons is out of the cards.
JUCO Transfers: No. 33 Brien Taylor Jr. (Jr.) and No. 96 Tarvorise Brown (R-Fr.)
Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun
Florida added some depth to its defensive line room over the offseason by adding a pair of junior college transfers, [autotag]Tarvorise Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Brien Taylor Jr[/autotag].
Brown has received more hype than Taylor over the offseason, but he’s not expected to see the field a ton in 2024. He made no appearances at Hutchinson College before redshirting and transferring and is an early addition thanks to a reclassification.
The original plan was for him to join the team next year, but Florida was able to get him on campus sooner. Training at an SEC facility for a year should help Brown progress faster in the long term but don’t expect much from him this year.
“He just kind of fell in our lap, to some degree,” Napier said. “We were recruiting him for January and then found out he was a qualifier and then it just ended up working out.
“So far, so good. I think the reps he’s taken, he’s proved to have all the functional movement, the power, the length. I mean, he’s a good athlete. … I think he’ll prove to be a good evaluation.”
Taylor is a bit of a hybrid player who is moving from the F position out on the edge to the interior. He was with the EDGEs in the spring but has since moved rooms to work with defensive line coach Gerald Chatman.
Throughout his two years at Blinn College, Taylor split time between the edge and interior, so this transition shouldn’t be too difficult.
Walk-Ons: No. 61 Nicolas Flynn (R-So.) and No. 92 Sebastian Scott (R-Fr.)
Doug Engle/Ocala Star Banner
Finally, the program has two walk-on players in the position room — redshirt sophomore Nicolas Flunn and redshirt freshman Sebastian Scott.
Flynn is entering his third season at Florida, all of which have come under Billy Napier. He has yet to make his collegiate debut. Flynn prepped at Lake Forest High in Illinois.
Scott joined the team in the summer of 2023 after playing prep ball at Cardinal Newman High in West Palm Beach. He made no appearances in his first year with the Gators.
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A few Gators were included in the College Football 25 video game reveal.
One of the most anticipated video games of 2024 finally has a release date after years of waiting for the newest installment of a once-popular football franchise.
EA Sports College Football 25 will be released worldwide on July 19, and history will be made with active college football players on the cover of the game for the first time ever.
Gators Online’s Nick de la Torre noticed that current Florida Gators [autotag]Tyreak Sapp[/autotag], [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag], [autotag]Grayson Howard[/autotag] and [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag] were all included among the throng of college football players featured in the reveal. It also looks like Derek Wingo is on the left halfway out of frame.
Gators make an appearance early in the EA College Football gameplay reveal.
EA Sports’ video game franchise, which began in 1993, has had players on its cover for the majority of its versions. But when previous versions of the NCAA Football game had players on its cover, they were in their college gear but had already left the college ranks by the time the game came out.
Hunter, Ewers and Edwards are three of more than 10,000 college football players expected to be in the game, according to EA Sports. Player likeness without compensation was the reason why the NCAA Football franchise folded in 2013 and why a college football video game hasn’t been released since then. But with name, image and likeness running rampant in college sports, EA Sports will compensate players in exchange for their likeness with $600 and a free copy of the game.
All the cover stars told reporters it was surreal when they learned the details.
“They’re gonna remember all three of us because we were the first guys on the cover to kind of bring it back,” Ewers said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to be on the cover of the game.”
EA Sports College Football 25 details
EA Sports College Football 25 will be available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Standard and deluxe editions of EA Sports College Football 25 are available for pre-order. EA Sports is also offering the MVP bundle, which includes the deluxe editions of EA SPORTS College Football 25 and Madden NFL 25. Prices for the versions are:
Standard edition: $69.99
Deluxe edition: $99.99
MVP bundle: $149.99
Purchase of any version of the game includes an alma mater ultimate team pack, cover athletes ultimate team pack and bring glory home ultimate team pack. The deluxe version and MVP bundle will come with three-day early access for both games and “a variety of other benefits,” including 4,600 college football points − presumably in-game currency − and a Heisman hopeful ultimate team pack.
The full reveal, which typically includes a trailer of the game, will be Friday. EA Sports said more details will be unveiled “throughout the summer” leading up to the release date.
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Florida lost Gervon Dexter to the NFL in April, but a pair of transfer tackles are set to take over Florida’s interior defensive line.
Florida’s defensive line will be another unit that relies heavily on transfer talent this season.
Both starting tackles — Cam Jackson and Caleb Banks — are in their first year with the program, meaning two new faces on the interior, and there’s a considerable amount of depth behind them. Nearly every Gators fan is rooting for big Desmond Watson to get on the field, and the first and second-year players that were recruited by Napier are, of course, the future of the program.
There tends to be a lot of shifting and rotating in the trenches, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it means to start, but we’ve identified the top players in the position room and created a rough depth chart to work off as the season begins.
Here’s a look at every defensive tackle on Florida’s 2023 fall roster.
247Sports updated its transfer rankings on Wednesday and five incoming Gators are ranked inside the top 150.
The Florida Gators brought in 10 players through the transfer portal over the winter and four of them made the final update to the 247Sports Top150 transfer rankings.
Defensive lineman [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag] is the highest-ranked Gator on the list. The Louisville transfer is No. 82 overall on the Top150 with a transfer grade of 91. Kentucky offensive tackle transfer [autotag]Kiyaunta Goodwin[/autotag] is next up at No. 96, and Memphis defensive line transfer [autotag]CamRon Jackson[/autotag] is just outside the top 100 at No. 110 overall.
Baylor offensive guard transfer [autotag]Micah Mazzccua[/autotag] is No. 138 on the list and former Wisconsin quarterback [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] rounds things out at No. 150. Both have a transfer grade of 90, meaning Florida is bringing in five players of the caliber or better.
On the other hand, Florida lost two players ranked in the top 150, offensive guard [autotag]Ethan White[/autotag] (No. 131) to USC and defensive back [autotag]Donovan McMillon[/autotag] (No. 143) to Pittsburgh.
The hope is that White’s departure will be offset by Mazzccua, but there’s no clear replacement for McMillon. Fortunately, the Gators focused heavily on defensive backs in the most recent recruiting cycle.
Although they didn’t make 247Sports’ list of the top transfers, Florida is counting on guys like linebacker [autotag]Teradja Mitchell[/autotag], running back [autotag]Cameron Carroll[/autotag] and offensive tackle [autotag]Damieon George[/autotag] to contribute. There was a ton of roster turnover during the offseason and there are several starting spots up for grabs.
It’s too early to tell how well Florida did in the transfer portal this offseason, but the early returns seem good.
Florida has a ton of talent on its roster heading into the 2023 season, but that doesn’t guarantee success.
The Florida Gators finished tied for 12th in 247Sports’ recent list of the most lethal rosters heading into the 2023 season.
247Sports’ Brad Crawford used the site’s team composite ranking to rank the teams. He took the average position of the team’s finish over the past five years and Florida finished with a 12.4 average, the same as Michigan.
Florida finished 14th in the country during the most recent cycle. Losing five-star quarterback Jaden Rashada hurt a class that had a chance to break the top 10. Florida’s first class under Billy Napier in 2022 ranked No. 18 overall, and Dan Mullen brought in the No. 12 class in 2021 and the No. 9 class in 2019 and 2020.
“When Florida is winning national titles, the Gators are one of the nation’s elite recruiting teams,” Crawford wrote. “And while this program has a top-12 roster based on talent heading into coach Billy Napier’s second season, there are certainly depth concerns that the coaching staff must contend with following a disappointing 6-7 finish under the new regime.”
The problem with using this metric to rank teams is that transfers come and go, and the bulk of the Mullen classes has moved on from the program in one way or another. The class of 2020 features some team leaders, such as receiver [autotag]Xzavier Henderson[/autotag] and linebacker [autotag]Derek Wingo[/autotag], but much of the class has transferred out or declared for the upcoming draft.
Florida also added a ton of transfer over the past two offseasons. Quarterbacks [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] and [autotag]Jack Miller[/autotag], running backs [autotag]Montrell Johnson Jr[/autotag]. and [autotag]Cameron Carroll[/autotag], receiver [autotag]Ricky Pearsall[/autotag], offensive linemen [autotag]Damieon George[/autotag], [autotag]Kiyaunta Goodwin[/autotag] and Micah Mazzccua, defensive linemen [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag] and [autotag]CamRon Jackson[/autotag], linebacker [autotag]Teradja Mitchell[/autotag] and cornerback [autotag]Jalen Kimber[/autotag] could all play significant roles for the team next season.
Florida could end up playing like a top-12 in the country by the season’s end, especially if the transfers help make up for the talent lost over the past few years, but it’s unwise to think of the Gators as a top-12 program in terms of actual talent heading into the season.
There’s been too much turnover in the program over the past couple of years for this metric to work for the Gators. A team like Michigan has a much better chance of living up to the expectations created by this list.
Jones announced his commitment at the All-American Bowl broadcast live on NBC last Saturday. The 6-foot-8-inch offensive lineman chose the Orange and Blue over the Aggies and Houston Cougars. Despite being from New Orleans, Napier was able to pry Jones from schools closer to home and make another addition to his 2023 class, which now has 21 members.
The smaller class was strategic for Napier, as he needs scholarships open to be active in the transfer portal. Prioritizing quality over quantity was a point of emphasis Napier made in his opening press conference and subsequent open letter to the fan base. The roster turnover along the offensive line, paired with his size and ability, make Jones a contender for early playing time.
Florida’s 21-member 2023 class joins transfers [autotag]Teradja Mitchell[/autotag], [autotag]CamRon Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] and [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag] as the new faces in Gainesville. It doesn’t look like Napier is stopping just yet. Even though multiple members of the 2023 class have already enrolled early, there is still room for the class to grow with national signing day scheduled for Feb. 1.
Florida needed to add some linebackers to the team this offseason, and the transfer portal is delivering for the Gators.
Former Michigan linebacker [autotag]Deuce Spurlock[/autotag] committed to the Florida Gators on Sunday, making the announcement public on social media around 1 p.m. on the East Coast.
After one year with the Wolverines, the Alabama native is headed back to the South to play in the SEC for a coach that wanted him before he was at the right school to land him. [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s staff recruited Spurlock as a high school senior while at Louisiana, but the then three-star recruit opted to play for Jim Harbaugh and Michigan instead.
Florida seemed to be the only team with a real chance to land Spurlock during this cycle. He announced his entrance into the transfer portal on Jan. 2 after Michigan lost to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, visited Florida by the start of the weekend and announced his commitment to close it out.
Adding Spurlock is a major win for Florida. The team needed linebackers after losing two starters, [autotag]Ventrell Miller[/autotag] and [autotag]Amari Burney[/autotag], to the NFL draft, and have now added former Ohio State Buckeye Teradja Mitchell and Spurlock at the position. Both should compete for significant playing time in 2023. Returning players at inside linebacker include Derek Wingo, Shemar James and Scooby Williams.
At Michigan, Spurlock played just 12 snaps over two games, collecting three total tackles (one solo) and a Pro Football Focus grade of 58.3 on defense for the year. He’ll have four years of eligibility remaining at Florida, so there’s time to develop him into his full potential.
Spurlock is the fifth player to transfer to Florida this offseason along with with Louisville defensive lineman [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag], Wisconsin quarterback [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag], Mitchell and Memphis defensive lineman [autotag]CamRon Jackson[/autotag].
